LSM1303 Animal Behaviour

When I was sitting on my coach and randomly hearing the daily news, I heard something from the news that caught me – ‘There is a homosexual elephant in Poznan Zoo in Poland.’ I looked at my television screen and saw this relative young elephant strolling around in his enclosure at the zoo. And I was just simply amazed. I had heard of homosexual dogs before, but not other animals like the elephants. Especially when they are so massive in size and look so majestic, I just could not believe what I heard from the newscaster.

Out of curiousity, I went back to my laptop and googled ‘gay elephant’. And yes, I confirmed what I have heard. This ‘gay’ elephant is called Ninio, aged 10. Apparently there are much controversies over this elephant which has a unique behavior, having a preference over his male counterparts rather than the females. Politicians were angry that they had spend millions of dollars on this particular animal, and it is suppose to give them a herd of elephants. But now knowing that Ninio have a ‘gay’ tendency, their herd of elephants may be just a dream.

Ninio’s intimacy with his male friends made people think that he is gay. But is he? Even if he is at present, isn’t it a little too early for him to decide his sexual orientation, since elephants of his species only mature at the age of 14? Such behavior is definitely interesting and unbelievable.

Dogs are one of the most common animals kept as pets. Calling my entire family dog lovers is perhaps the greatest understatment of the century, not that I’m exaggerating of course. Ever since I was born two decades ago, at any point in time, there will always be at least a dog at home vying with me for the couch or for the adults’ attention.

Therefore, it was definitely no surprise when Jonus joined the family eight months ago. It was definitely a joy watching the little two month old golden retriever trot around the house, curious about everything that the world has to offer, sniff and attempt to lick anything along the way, and then fall into a deep slumber after acting cute and being cuddled by all.

Life is never so perfect ain’t it? Now, to the downside. Although my family has been keeping dogs for the longest time, this is indeed the first time what we are keeping a puppy this young. Most of the dogs that we have kept were usually given or strays. Horrors of horrors, we seemed to be blinded by the extremely cute, innocent face and it slipped our mind that this gold fuzzball actually answers nature calls. We woke up to find the entire house in a state of disarray, with the grandmother thinking that the house had been broken into while we were sleeping. However, we came to a conclusion that thieves dont have that much time to poo and pee anywhere in the house while carrying out a break in. OF course, the dog got an earful from all of us that day.

Astonishingly, from that day onwards, Jonus never urinate nor defaecate anywhere again, apart from the potty pen that he was given. At only three months, he was able to decipher the right from the wrong and followed instructions. Compare that to the same three month old infant boy who can ’shoot’ in mummy’s face.  Who says that language is always a barrier? Sometimes I really wonder if dogs are really smarter than humans. Operant learning I call it.

Jonus never fails to amuse us as he grows each day. One day, I was washing the dustpan with a hose in the garden. Jonus, was as usual, being his happy self basking in the sun. What happened the next day shocked us greatly. The moment I wanted to wash the same dustpan with the hose, Jonus ran over and peed in it, and it has never stopped since then. Till this day, he only pees and poos in the dustpan, in the garden. He probably saw the jet of water from the hose on that particular day and thought that it was right to do his business in the dustpan. Not like we are complaining of course. Having the entire house, including the kitchen smell like the zoo isn’t exactly very appetizing.

I’m so proud of this talent that is unique to my little one and watches in fascination and awe as he grows each day. Ok, now I sound like a mother.    

Jonus then and now…

References

- The domestic dog by James Serpell via Google book search 

-  American Kennel Club https://www.akc.org/breeds/golden_retriever/index.cfm

- www.thegoldenretrieverclub.co.uk/

The headline isn’t real – for now, at least. Firstly:



Photo Source

You might agree that the above is one heck of a deer specimen: in fact, the Sambar Deer has been known to grow up to 1.6m at the shoulder – and this has yet to include its neck, head and antlers! (For your information, the antlers have been known to exceed one metre in length!)

Now if that hasn’t impressed you, perhaps the following will:

SAMBAR DEER IN SINGAPORE?!!

Source of photo and short story here.

Definitely not a Christmas promotion by the zoo gone wrong! In fact, there’s been a lot of talk about late-night drivers seeing these deers along Mandai Road, Adam Road, and sometimes also at the MacRitchie Reservoir stretch. Not many want to disclose their experience – deers in Singapore?!! You might as well believe in the Tooth Fairy.

But I kid you not: these are our very own Sambar Deers, and several of them exist in our urban jungles. Word has it that some of the Singapore Zoo’s herd escaped years ago – but Sambars are not an alien species. They used to exist in Singapore. This might justify why there have been no efforts to recapture them, given the minimal impact on ecology.

It’s not easy to find them – Sambars are one of the most difficult deers to locate in the wild, and are adept at staying motionless at the presence of an intruder. This explains their very silent, almost-unknown existence in Singapore.

Photo Source.

Sambars can be found in many parts of Asia, and are known to be both diurnal and nocturnal. Singapore’s own Sambars, as evident by the sightings, are nocturnal. But why do they appear along roads, in full view of humans, and not remain hidden in the foliage?

Here’s my guess – grass is present in their diet, and they cannot find enough grass in the undergrowths of our forests. Our government does an excellent job of maintaining grass in open spaces next to roads – also home to many interesting, delicious flowering plants. These Sambars come out at night to feast on the result of our government taxes – when there is less human activity, and the cover of darkness to hide them.

Perhaps there is a need to expound on the existence of such large, beautiful creatures within Singapore’s urban jungles, to instil a concern of and healthy interest in our very own biodiversity? Surely they are more interesting than spiders or otters….. (:

Now what’s this I hear about a Binturong….

References

Geist, Valerius. 1998. Deer Of the World: Their Evolution, Behaviour and Ecology.

The Australian Deer Association. (Retrieved 15th April 2009).

University of Michigan Museum of Zoology: Animal Diversity Web : Rusa Unicolor. (Retrieved 15th April 2009).

Report on the Singapore Tourism Board (STB) Project at Mandai. December 2007. ConservationSingapore.nss.org.sg (Retrieved 15th April 2009).

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Red-sided Garter Snakes live in Canada and the Northwestern United States. Not only are they small and poisonous, they are definitely the naughtiest snakes around. During mating, more than 20 000 of them slither together in a den, bringing orgy to another level! In that pile of copulating mass, there can be 100 males courting one single female!

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However, bad news for the males – only one single male snake can successfully court and impregnate the female. This is hardly depressing for the male snakes as they become “the transvestite serpents” and court other males instead!

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The males which are courted are termed as “she-males”. It is not just kinkiness at play here. Instead, it is female mimicry. These she-males are biologically male but received lipids when they have “rubbed” against females. This makes the he-males confused. But being driven by instincts, once female pheromones are detected, the he-males court. Even if the she-males are of their own kind.

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Contrary to what you may think, the she-males are not grappling with issues of identity and sexual orientation. They have other motivations in mind. Imitating the females can distract the he-males in the mating ball from the one female snake. With this sexual interference, the she-males can get the best position with the female snake; which in turn increases their success in courting the females. Sneaky indeed, but you have to admit it is very clever.

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References

“10 Craziest Animal Behaviour”, by 2Spare. 2Spare.com, 06 May 2006

Crew, R. T., 1986. Pheromone mimicry in garter snakes, Chemical Signals in Vertebrates 4, 279-283.

R. Shine, P. H..1999. The transvestite serpent: why do male garter snakes court (some), Journal of Animal Behaviour, 349 – 352.

R. Shine, M. J. Elphick, P. S. Harlow, I. T. Moore, M. P. LeMaster, and R. T. Mason, 2001.Movements, Mating, and Dispersal of Red-sided Gartersnakes (Thamnophis sirtails parietails)  from a Communal Den in  Manitoba., 82-91.

Pictures taken from

Allposters.com

Howstuffworks.com

It’s that time of the year again, when the waters to the south of Singapore bristle with excitement and some hot, steamy action. A few days after the full moon in less than a weeks’ time, just after nightfall… the activities will begin. Hordes of fish will gather in frenzy because they can sense the upcoming action. While the corals prepare for a mass orgy, the fish prepare for a huge buffet. Soon the corals become swollen, and then pink bundles burst out from each of the coral polyps, releasing millions and millions of eggs and sperm into the water.

What’s going on? The corals do it. So do the giant clams, sponges and a whole lot of other marine organisms that are quite immobile as adults. Because they are immobile, these organisms exploit the aqueous environment that they live in to help them mate; They release their eggs and sperm into the water, a process termed broadcast spawning, which allows the eggs and sperm to fertilize externally and produce motile larvae for the propagation of the species. To view an awesome video clip of a spawning coral, please click on the link entitled “Coral Spawning” here.

For many species of the hard corals, synchronous mass spawning has been documented all over the world, with that from the Great Barrier Reef in Australia being one of the most well-documented, but this actually occurs in Singapore (Guest et al., 2002) too! Although we do not get thick mats of spawn slick here in Singapore, it is still one of the most breathtaking events on the reef here, THE annual mass spawning of corals, where multi-species of corals spawn in synchrony.

Now broadcast spawning allows for efficient mixing of the gene pool, but why would different species do it together?? The highly nutritious eggs attract hordes of fish that could easily deplete much of the coral babies. By producing an over-abundance of spawn at one go, the predators are overwhelmed, thereby increasing the chances of survival of each coral baby. Simply imagine you are at a buffet, with a great spread in front of you. No matter how delicious the food is, there is only so much that one can consume at a go! This spares the rest of the coral larvae (a.k.a. fish food), till they are ready to settle down and grow into an adult coral colony.

So if you decide to go swimming in the sea in the next few weeks, expect the water to be a little more turbid or have a different smell, and you might also see more schools of fish out in their feeding frenzy!

References
Guest, J.R., Baird, A.H., Goh, B.P.L. & Chou, L.M. 2002. Multispecific, synchronous coral spawning in Singapore. Coral Reefs, 21: 422-423.